Page 48 of Loco

Chapter 22

Loco

Fuck, I was five minutes late for church. All eyes were on me as I headed for my usual chair. Demon was at the head of the table, his hands steepled in front of him, a look that was hard to read etched on his craggy face. I tried not to grin at the SpongeBob SquarePants patch over his eye, the price you had to pay when you had rug rats. His daughter, Maddie, had several favorite cartoons, but prez had drawn the line at wearing anything with a Disney princess on it. Not manly enough, he said. And SpongeBob was?

I was willing to bet that none of my brothers had had the guts to inform him that he’d forgotten to exchange it for his usual black patch before heading out the door this morning. He usually had a couple of spares lying around.

I made brief eye contact with Sax, our VP, and Cole, our enforcer. Oz was writing something down in his ledger, and Snake, Happy, Colton, Reid and Doc were also at the table. I didn’t ask where the rest of the club was. Demon probably had them working on the walkway and gazebo that we were building for Annabelle and Danny’s wedding, which seemed to be coming up fast.

Demon spoke once I sat down. “You got something to tell us?”

I couldn’t tell whether or not he was pissed that I was late because most of the time he had one fucking expression, and that was stormy on a good day. I decided to ignore his expression and the cartoon patch and just come out with what was front most on my mind. I took a deep breath because I knew that once it was out, I couldn’t take it back. “I’m claiming Millie.”

It had been hard leaving her that morning, looking all soft and naked in bed, her body showing several marks from my hands and mouth. If I could have paraded her around naked for all my brothers to see that she belonged to me, I would have.

My eyes shot to Doc. Though I knew that he wasn’t interested in her the same way as I was, he was still interested in her. “You got something to say about that, Brother?”

His smirk revealed that he was okay with my announcement. Doc had shown plenty of interest in certain women over the years, but as soon as he knew that another brother was interested, he stepped back. He made it appear as if he didn’t want to put in the effort or fight for the woman in question, but I knew that it was more than that. It had to be. He just hadn’t metthe one, yet. The woman he couldn’t live without.

Little did he know, as I’d just found out, when you did find her, it was fast and unexpected.

Shit. My observation made me think about me and Millie. I’d never felt the urge to claim any woman before so it was obvious that my feelings for her were something more.

“Well, since you headed straight to her place after checking in last night, I figured as much,” Demon said. “Surprised as fuck, though. Can’t see you settled down with one woman.”

I shrugged. “Took the right one.”

A snort from Sax drew my interest. “You know that for sure?” Humor flashed in his eyes. “Hasn’t been that long since I watched you fucking Cherry out on the pool table.”

I didn’t remind him that that had been before I’d fucked Millie for the first time. It was no one’s fucking business where I put my dick

“Fuck, why you watching the brothers fucking bitches?” Snake grinned.

“Must be comparing dick sizes.” Happy’s smile turned into a hearty laugh after Sax gave him the finger. “I’ll whip mine out right now so you won’t have to watch me banging a chick. Unless you’re looking for pointers on how to do it right.”

“Yeah, that’s exactly why I watch,” Sax said, crossing his arms.

It occurred to me that Demon was quiet. Not unusual for him when we were in church. I swung my gaze his way to see that he was taking in our exchange with an expression that revealed that he was about to lose his cool. He should have been used to this shit by now. It was a tradition for us to give each other shit right before the conversation turned serious.

I looked across the table at Oz, who was right in the middle of a huge yawn. He and JoJo had two kids under the age of five at home, Samuel and Sandy. Sandy was a baby, and babies got up during the night. Cole, Sax, Demon, some others, they’d all had Oz’s haggard look at one time or another when their kids had been babies. I didn’t bother asking him if he’d had a rough night, because he was already halfway between another yawn.

“Christ, Brother, you need a nap?” Cole laughed.

“Need some caffeine.” Demon slid his cup over.

Oz grabbed it and chugged down what was left inside the cup. The grimace that followed revealed that the coffee had probably been cold and bitter.

Demon released a loud breath and pinned his attention on me. “Tell us what the fuck happened last night with Russ.”

The brothers all turned my way.

“When I got to Millie’s the fucking cops were there. The little weasel and his gang had tried to force their way into her apartment, and when she wouldn’t open up the door someone fired a shot through it. A neighbor called it in.”

“She get hurt?” Reid asked, leaning forward. He’d finally given up smoking for Ellie, but kept a cigarette tucked behind his ear for the scent.

I shook my head.

“How the fuck does she know Russ?” Sax demanded with a frown. “She do drugs?”

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